Steve Cotterill admits Birmingham City’s financial constraints mean he is still having to juggle getting players to leave St Andrew’s as well as bringing them to the club.

The Blues boss insists he does have targets - both loan and permanent - but says the focus remains on balancing a squad that saw 13 new faces arrive in the summer and half-a-dozen this time last year.

He concedes the situation is far from ideal but insists he must deal in reality and work within the rules of Financial Fair Play.

Blues have secured Maikel Kieftenbeld and Jonathan Grounds on new long term deals - but they have also seen David Cotterill, Emilio Nsue and Liam Walsh leave the first team squad, with Nicolai Brock-Madsen also expected to leave.

And there could be more to on the way out, which he said he'd been working on.

“More outgoings at this moment in time if I am brutally honest. Not necessarily how I want it to be,” he said.

“Like I have said before it’s not an ideal situation being reactive in the transfer market but that’s the reality of the situation I am in at the moment.

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“I have still got targets, people I would like to strengthen us - not only short-term but long-term as well.

“It’s whether we can get to afford those - and all of that business. It’s difficult to go into all that.”

Asked if has confidence of still being able to bring someone in, he said: “As it stands at this moment in time I suppose I am more hopeful than confident. I think that’s probably the most honest and truthful answer I can give you.

“I am still working on things, it’s what we can do financially - No. 1. And then obviously convincing the lads to come to Birmingham.

“But convincing them in the right way rather than potentially over-spending and being in a worse situation.

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“I would love to have had all my deals done in December then on January 1 to be able to rubber-stamp them.

“But I haven’t been in that situation to be able to do that.

"What we have to is carry on working hard and affecting the things we can affect because at the moment you can't affect that there's already been £35m spent in the last two windows and rules are rules."